The American Rescue Plan stipulates that 20% of an LEA’s total ESSER III award must be reserved to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs.
All activities and interventions funded through this required set aside must be evidence-based (see below), respond to students' academic, social, and emotional needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable student populations, including each major racial and ethnic group, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, English learners, gender, and migrant status, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care.
“Evidence-based” has the same definition as used in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for programs such as Title I-A.
Our Evidence-Based Practices, Strategies, Programs and Intervention webpage for more information, training materials and resources – to include tools and external websites that may be used to identify evidence-based resources, programs, practices and interventions
Search an LEA below to review their plan for addressing disrupted learning. Only LEAs whose ESSER III applications have been "approved" (not submitted) are featured here.
| LEA | Use of Set-Aside Funds | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Pan-American Elementary Charter | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Pan American will ensure that all students including students who are low-income, students of color, English Language Learners, children with disabilities, student experiencing homeless, and all students have the opportunity to have an equal education. There are several ways the the LEA will ensure that interventions address the academic impact of lost instructional time and respond to academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students. To meet the academic needs of our students, Pan Am will: Continue to offer a summer school program that will provide targeted and strategic intervention in English Language Arts and Mathematics to K-8 students who are identified as most academically at risk. This includes adding more teachers, bus drivers, administrators, and administrative assistant to help with the program. Provide an additional reading and math interventionist that will work with students in grades K-6 to pull small groups and provide academic assistance and intervention to struggling students. Salary/Benefits for outside counselor to work with students and families to find resources and small group instruction to deal with emotional trauma and mental health. Counselor will also provide Professional Development to staff regarding behavior management, behavior intervention, and social emotional learning. |
| Parker Unified School District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
All of our interventions are open to all students. Since our district has 50% Hispanic, 33% Native American, 16% white, and 1% other for ethnicities and 24% of students qualify for ESS services, and 74% of our students qualify for a free lunch (we are a community eligibility program district), and our ELL population is low, we believe all students should have equal access to all services. Our interventions are determined by test scores. Those students who qualify will be given the help they need whether it is after school, summer school, or would like to attend enrichment classes during spring break. The Saturday School we are proposing are open to any student who wishes to attend same as the parents who would like to attend our parenting academies. By implementing Capturing Kids Hearts and Neurosequential Model in Education, our district is able to reach all students. Over the next few years, our district will be able to hire counselors for our schools. Currently our district works well with all outside agencies including those of the Indian Health Services. All intervention services use our adopted curriculum through Scott Foresman in Math and Open Court Reading for our ELA. |
| Pendergast Elementary District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Intervention programs will be included in the LEA Integrated Action Plan. A monitoring and evaluation action step will be determined for each program to include student data analysis in order to ensure programs are meeting the academic, social, emotional and/or mental health needs of students with an emphasis on students disproportionately impacted by COVID-9 Extended Day Programs Preschool Scholars Program All schools within our District are Title I schools and therefore serve the students that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. PESD will ensure that the interventions it implements, including but not limited to the interventions within the required 20% set aside (under section 2001(e)(1) of the ARP Act) to address the academic impact of lost instructional time, will respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students, and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, and migratory students. PESD will do so by regular communication with all stakeholders during community meetings to include parent luncheon and community breakfast events |
| Pima Unified District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Pima Unified SD's plan provides students with greater opportunities to work with their individual teachers. This increased FaceTime will ensure that students can make up for the learning they lost due to reduced access to their teacher during the time many were forced to rely on remote learning during the pandemic. |
| Scholars Academy Sunnyslope | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Scholars Academy will monitor the effectiveness of interventions we implement through benchmark testing, both formative and summative assessments, teacher input and regular data meetings. |
| Somerset Academy Arizona, Inc. | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Somerset will use funds for class size reduction for smaller class sizes, intervention staff, high-quality after school, Saturday, and summer school to provide intervention services for students experiencing learning loss, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, and migratory students. Somerset will pay retention stipends for teachers to remain teaching in the school to provide ongoing instruction and interventions for student learning loss. |
| Tanque Verde Unified District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Set Aside-TVUSD utilizes the evidence based practice of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to ensure we address the needs of all learners. In this process teachers meet at least weekly to plan which includes the following: Instruction will be determined by focus on essential standards, followed by formative assessment. Teachers will analyze formative assessment data to determine learning gaps, need for support, and opportunities for enrichment. The following cycle (PLC cycle) will be utilized in an ongoing manner throughout the year to target instruction for students based on grade level content as well as learning gaps that may have occurred as a result of the pandemic. The district is implementing SchoolCity which is a tool for administering formative assessments as well as district benchmarks. PLC teams will use this tool to analyze data and plan instruction. In addition, the campuses have built in intervention and enrichment times in the school day. Finally, we utilize the evidence-based, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) as a means to support students' needs. Flex Teachers and the PLC process as well as the MTSS process will target at risk subgroups including low income students, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth. Flex Teachers (6) $250,053.13 |
| Tolleson Union High School District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
The ESSER III funds will enable TUHSD to address the learning gaps created due to the pandemic. TUHSD allocates its Title I, Title III, IDEA, and Homeless Ed grants to serve our low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care. We braid and maximize our funds to support our students in intervention programs and school continuous improvement efforts. Our goal is to eliminate barriers that negatively impact academic proficiency by providing embedded intervention during the school day. We will continue to use our federal funds to support our students, such as Title I to sustain in-person tutoring and supports such as the PBIS/SEL student groups. ESSER III will enable TUHSD to provide rigorous interventions, keep our students engaged and safe, to continue with academic growth. TUHSD will hold quarterly data monitoring meetings with site administration. The curriculum department will discuss each school and their progress in their weekly meetings, and in bi-weekly Principal meetings. Data markers will be published to all administrators. If students do not achieve, they are referred to MTSS and monitored. Also, school sites' Leadership Teams hold quarterly meeting to review TSI Goals, CNA, and IAP. The principals share continuance improvement data in their Principal meetings. The LEA will revisit their plans and assist as needed. |
| Yarnell Elementary District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
The district will provide summer school in June of 2022, 2023, and 2024 and after school tutoring during the FY22 school year. Revision #1: After school tutoring during the FY22 school year: 3 teachers to tutor students afterschool during the 2021-2022 school year. Teachers will tutor one time a week beginning Sept. 15, 2021 and ending on May 11, 2022. District tests (Galileo, AR, and STAR) will be used to determine which students need to additional support. The evidence based programs that will be used will be the board approved curriculums for Math and ELA: SAVVAS Math and SAVVAS ELA and Open Court ELA. Students will be monitored and evaluated based on classroom work and assessments. Revision #1: The district will provide summer school in June of 2022, 2023, and 2024: 4 teachers to provide tutoring. District tests (Galileo, AR, and STAR) will be used to determine which students need to additional support. The evidence based programs that will be used will be the board approved curriculums for Math and ELA: SAVVAS Math and SAVVAS ELA and Open Court ELA. Assess the needs of students. Set goals and objectives. Use SAVVAS Math and SAVVAS ELA and Open Court ELA. Students will be monitored and evaluated based on classroom work and assessments. |
| Cornerstone Charter School,Inc | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
The 20% Set Aside Funding will be utilized for Summer school instruction for students to assist in learning loss in English and mathematics for 4 teachers to each teach summer school in each of the following three months: June 2023, July 2023, June 2024, and July 2024. School: 4 teachers x 20 days (4 weeks) x 4 hours x $45/hr = $14,400 Summer School: 4 teachers x 20 days (4 weeks) x 4 hours x $45/hr = $14,400 Total cost of Salaries ($14,400) and benefits ($1,446) = $15,846.00 (total 20% set aside) The rest of the funding will be used for one full-time counselor to meet the social emotional and mental health needs of the students and staff. In order to equip our students with the resources, time, and counseling services necessary to reengage in a school setting we are setting aside funding for this counselor to assist them in this process. All students and particularly those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 pandemic, including students from low-income families, English learners, and children with disabilities will be able to receive bi-weekly meetings with the counselor and engage in a series of self-care inventories and assessments to help them better understand where they are at and the resources they have available to them. Funding will be also utilized for stipends for teachers for summer school learning in the area of english and mathematics to improve learning loss for all students impacted by COVID-19, including students from low-income families, English learners, and children with disabilities for the months of June 2023, July 2023, June 2024, and July 2024 to work toward the impact . |
| Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
The lost of in-person learning in the Career Technology Education courses has effected the students hands on training. This is a major problem as we are sending students into the working world or their chosen industry career unprepared with the needed skills to perform the task in a safe and effective manner. The use of the ESSER III funds will be used for remediation in the area of hands on skills training which relate to each CTE program VACTE offers. The teachers and industry purchased service specialist will work on weekends so the student can be training in real life situations for skills attainment. The students will benefit from the hands on training and be able to take an industry certification test which will help with entry level of approve employment in the future. Several of the students come from low economic families and the need for a skills students to enter the workforce to provide for the family has been determined to be of high need in our school district. They use of summer school and weekend will allow the students to focus during the week on their academic courses and the academic part of the CTE program. The extra training on the weekends and during the summer will give them a real perspective and hands on training for their future career or jobs. The student ethnic background is not an issue all of the students need hands on training so they can perform in a safe and reasonable manner once on a job site. We believe this is a strong solution to meet the needs of the students in the Verde Valley and Sedona. Several groups from all race and economic backgrounds has given VACTE feedback on what the funds should be used for. |
| Mary Ellen Halvorson Educational Foundation. dba: Tri-City Prep High School | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Students impacted by COVID will have the opportunity to attend summer programs with one-to-one tutoring and software programs to close the academic gaps. Specific attention will be given to students with special needs and economically disadvantaged students. Students will be assessed at the end of the summer session and throughout the following school year in courses to determine proficiency and subject area competency. Results from state testing assessment and ACT testing will also be used as a measurement of reaching academic targets. |
| The Odyssey Preparatory Academy, Inc. | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Odyssey will address unfinished learning through the acceleration model by prioritizing grade level content and instructional rigor and depth of instruction with support; maintain the inclusion of each and every learner and identify and address gaps in learning through instructional best practices. Odyssey will use state approved assessments such as AIMSWeb Plus for benchmarking and progress monitoring. Odyssey uses the FastForward program for intervention. It is a research-based reading intervention program approved for use by the State of Arizona. It is designed to help pre-readers, struggling readers, students with IEP's, and ELL students. This uniquely designed program begins by improving the underlying cognitive skills associated with reading struggle and delivers personalized intensive practice across a wide range of language and reading tasks to help scholars make rapid improvement. The program provides the English phonics training, intensive grammar, vocabulary practice and oral speaking necessary to build both basic and English proficiency. Support staff work directly with identified scholars as they move through the program identifying where they continue to struggle and provide offline support through targeted lessons. Odyssey uses a combination of research based instructional methods that include whole group tier 1 instruction, utilizing benchmark data to assign scholars to small groups for Tier 2 or 3 intervention based on their needs. Scholars may be identified based on socio-economic status, ELL status, and/or Special Education status. Significant small group instruction time is implemented into the schedule daily. Classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, and special education teachers are all involved daily in the organization and implementation of structured support during small group and whole group instruction. Odyssey utilizes instructional methods such as "think-pair-share", cooperative learning, Socratic seminars, hands-on activities using manipulatives, real world experiments, and other best practice instructional activities daily. Scholar growth is monitored through bi-weekly progress monitoring by data collected through a variety of evaluation methods. Data is recorded and analyzed frequently by teachers and administration. Instruction is then adjusted where necessary to continuously address gaps in foundational skills. An outsourced School Counselor will provide additional support to both special education and general education scholars identified as having a need for additional social-emotional support in the educational setting. Scholars will be identified by teachers and other educational stakeholders who work with them on a regular basis within the classroom. Scholars will be referred to the School Counselor when interventions and classroom supports have been tried but found to be not successful. The School Counselor will provide both individual and small group sessions to teach scholars skills related to their social-emotional learning such as: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, emotional regulation, problem solving, responsible decision making, career development and planning, as well as helping scholars learn to build positive peer relationships and social interactions using evidence-based practice resources to guide the therapeutic interventions. Other non-grant funded support includes: |
| Ash Creek Elementary District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Ash Creek Elementary School District will monitor the effectiveness of interventions implemented through benchmark testing, both formative and summative assessments, and teacher input. Data gathered will be evaluated to make decisions about the effectiveness of the interventions and the impact they have on lost instructional time, the academic, social, emotional and mental health needs of all students, and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children in foster care and migratory students. |
| Ash Fork Joint Unified District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
A variety of evidence-based strategies will be utilized including classroom and systems interventions as found in PBISworld and through the MTSS process, addressing academic as well as social-emotional needs. Counseling strategies will include the instruction of mindfulness strategies, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and other trauma-informed practices at the individual and small group level of intervention. The population at Ash Fork Joint Unified School District includes students with special needs, many low-income and homeless families, English learners, and migrant/ranch families. Ash Fork is a small rural community with limited access to technology, internet, therapy, and medical services. School Psychologist services will help address pandemic-related needs by attempting to fill in the gap between needs and available resources. |
| Benson Unified School District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
BUSD will ensure that the interventions implemented will address the academic impact of lost instruction time, social emotional and mental health needs of all students by assessments conducted by our preschool teachers, our reading specialists, and by site principals and their teachers and paraprofessionals. Students who are selected for these programs are based on their classroom academic performances, intervention assessments, formative assessments, quarterly benchmarks, students emotional needs and metal health, teachers and principals "red flags" , and parent alerts. These assessments will very in their timing. With preschool, assessments are done daily and through Gold; students' progress are charted and students' needs are addressed per the data. When it comes to our reading specialist, formal assessments are completed at the beginning of the school year and during each quarter with a final assessment completed at the end of school year to denote the overall students' progress. Finally, with our summer school programs, data and assessments are collected in different times and ways depending on students' grade levels. At the primary school, students will be evaluated on their progress through project based assessments. At the middle school, it will be more traditional assessments through formatives, quizzes, unit tests and some project based assessments. At our high schools, these students are geared more toward recovering credits towards graduation. Assessments and monitoring will be very similar to regular school with completion of assignments, quizzes, unit tests, and finals. Throughout the school year and into the future, principals and district level administration will collect the identified data from each intervention and chart students overall success who have participated in our interventions to determine the overall effectiveness of each program. It is our hope that students who participate in our preschool will be more prepared for kindergarten than students who have not. For students who are in our reading interventions, we want to see growth in students' reading abilities and more of a willingness for students to read and enjoy the experience. In our summer school programs, we want all students to grow socially and emotionally through daily activities with students and teachers and build stronger academic foundations in our students, so they will be more confident when it comes to school. Finally, to give students who have been left behind in their academics because of COVID and school closures and/or a lack of academic exposure, a chance to catch up. We will use evidence based programs used for summer school to include Beyond Textbooks supported Math and Language Arts, Scott Foresman/Journeys was an additional support for ELA. Our screening tools such as STAR and iSteep supported our assessment as well as Beyond Textbooks. Character Strong/Purpose-Full People supported Social/Emotional Health was implemented. Instruction was/will be 2 hours of Project Based Learning Math/Science per day; 2 hours of Project Based Learning ELA/Social Studies per day; 2 hours of Activity based learning in Music, Art, Physical education, and Technology; Math small group intervention services; Title I reading services; 30 minutes of Mindfulness such as Yoga, Meditation, or Character Strong/Purposeful People instruction. |
| Bullhead City School District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Our main intervention during the school day is the creation of transitional classrooms. Students in transitional classrooms, with a maximum of 18 students, are those who are not far enough behind to be retained, but are not academically ready for the next grade level. Teachers were chosen for transitional classrooms with the goal to assist students to reach at least one and one half years' growth. Benchmark and progress monitoring data from Galileo, DIBELS, and classroom assessments will be used to monitor the progress of our students in transitional classrooms. Our administrators and instructional coaches will observe classrooms and provide coaching and feedback to increase teacher effectiveness in the classroom. We also created an EL teacher position at each of our elementary schools to provide targeted instruction. An additional School Counselor position was created for one school currently without a counselor on staff to provide services to students, teachers and families. Galileo and DIBELS data will be used to monitor student progress. The "end" indicator will be AZELLA results. REVISION 2 (5/10/2022) ADD: WE added two EL teachers to this line item. The need for each school site to have a School Counselor is recognized through discipline incidents, student self-regulation, and emotional health of both students and teachers. We added a school counselor position for one of our schools which does not have a counselor at this time. Counseling logs will be reviewed to monitor effectiveness, as well as the notes from safety team meetings. Student discipline reports will also hep to determine if interventions are effective. Our after school programs were increased with more teachers who will use district approved programs to offer interventions to students. We also will provide enrichment activities to increase students' interests and social skills. Benchmark and progress monitoring data from Galileo, DIBELS, and classroom assessments will be used to monitor the progress of our students. The results will also be used to determine who needs to attend tutoring, as we want the groups to be fluid throughout the year. Summer school programs for the next 2 summers are enhanced by extending School Counselor contracts to provide services to students during summer school. We also will have two special education teachers and two special education paraprofessionals at each school prepared to work with students on their IEP goals throughout summer school. Special education students will monitored by data collected on IEP goal progress. Counseling logs will document the need for School Counselors in the Summer, as well as disciplinary records. Additional technology will be purchased to support students in and out of the classroom. We will purchase 1000 Chromebooks to allow for 1-1 in the classrooms, which will increase student access to our educational programs for practice, intervention, and enrichment It will also assist us should we need to quarantine classrooms, as we will have enough devices to send home with students. 40 ActivPanels will be purchased and installed in classrooms to increase student engagement in learning and enhance instruction. Classroom walk-throughs monitoring engagement and effective use of technology in classrooms will be used to determine the need for professional development or individual coaching to increase effectiveness. Usage reports from our educational programs will also be used to ensure our approved technology programs are being used to support students. Programs such as Second Step, DIBELS mCLASS, Reading, and Intervention, IXL, and NewsELA are supports we will offer to transition teachers and those working with students during after school program and summer school. Usage reports will be monitored as well as student data to determine effectiveness. We will also purchase professional development to train our educators to effectively support our students' academic and social emotional wellness. Surveys following professional development will assist us in knowing if training was helpful to staff. Classroom walk-throughs will help monitor the implementation of professional development topics/skills, and student data including benchmarks, attendance, and discipline will show the effectiveness of our implementation and if adjustments need to be made. Training provided by an ADE Approved Dyslexia presenter for 30 K-3 classroom teachers in FY22 and 20 K-3 classroom teachers in FY23. Virtual training will consist of six full days of training. For FY22, training days are March 4 & 5, March 25 & 26, and April 22 & 23. Training is provided by Barbara Steinberg from PDX Reading. trained teachers will support colleagues with implementing teaching strategies to support our struggling readers, especially those identified through our Dyslexia screener as exhibiting possible characteristics of dyslexia. Effectiveness will be measured through DIBELS mCLASS with dyslexia screener. We will also have TAT meeting notes to document interventions provided to students who are being considered for a CST meeting. Our district plans to build a teacher housing complex to assist in recruitment and retention of teachers/staff. We have lost staff members due to a lack of affordable housing in the district and/or having their rentals sold by the owner leaving them with nowhere to live. Even new staff cannot find affordable housing and have to decline or break their contracts. This leads to open teaching positions, rotating substitute teachers in classrooms, and larger class sizes due to the need to combine classrooms. This is not healthy for the students academically or with social/emotional wellness. By providing a lower cost option for our staff, we hope to not only recruit qualified staff, but retain them in our district. |
| Camp Verde Unified District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
CVUSD is implementing evidence based interventions and supplemental instructional services to address the learning loss of all students including those most at risk and impacted by covid. CVUSD is offering additional learning opportunities during and outside of the school day to address learning loss. CVUSD is adding additional paraprofessionals to provide supplemental instruction to at risk students. CVUSD is hiring an additional 3rd grade teacher due to the low reading scores and large class sizes to create smaller class sizes in third grade. Social emotional supports are being strengthened with additional staff and professional development for teachers. Purchase of technology to be used for implementation of interventions. For WIN and summer school, Star scores (STAR CBM at elementary) are being reviewed at the end of each session (WIN end of each spring session) and summer school the end of the 3 week session. |
| Colorado City Unified District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
All students, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, and migratory students, will participate in our reteach/enrich program. Teachers will enter formative assessment date into Performance Matters. Grade level teams will determine which students need to be re-taught and which ones can go on to enrich. Academic programs are developed to meet the reteach and enrich needs. Post formative assessments will be given to see if reteach increased academic attainment. Students who fail to meet grade level expectations consistently will be placed on the Student Support Team monitoring. The Student Support Team will look at academics, attendance, social emotional concerns, socioeconomic status, etc to attempt to address any barriers to student success at school. Student Support Team will also implement Tier 2 interventions which could mean small group instruction, alternative curriculum, counseling, behavior management plans, etc. If after Tier 2 interventions, the student continues to make inadequate progress, they will be referred to an evaluation process to determine if the student has a disability. Students with disabilities most often continue to go to Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions, however, they get additional specialized help from the ESS department. For social emotion concerns, we are purchasing remote counseling in addition to a full-time on campus counselor. Some students would prefer to talk to an anonymous counselor rather than one they know from our small town. Our instructional programs and practices align with the Arizona Department of Education's evidence based activities for academic improvement. |
| Continental Elementary District | Wholistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 |
Specific curriculum will be purchased for subgroups ( SPED, EL and Gifted Ed) in order for resource teachers and coordinator's to use as a Tier II Intervention during the school day. Eleven Saturdays are scheduled for students who are not demonstrating progress during our Reteach and Enrich program during the school day and/or NWEA MAP assessments. At-risk students will also be identified and expected to attend our Summer Academic Support and Enrichment summer of 2022. Continental is also participating in AVID this year. AVID will provide continuity in instructional and procedural expectations for all students K-8. AVID will provide additional opportunities to close achievement gaps and improve high school and college readiness for all students. |
